This accident happened on 30 September last on the Pukerua Bank north of Plimmerton. An electric multiple unit heading north was derailed after running into a slip, and was then hit head-on by a train heading south on the other track. A passenger said the drivers were very quick on the emergency brakes. "The two drivers' cabins hit each other and then the other train side swiped us all the way down. I thought, just hang on and hope. We didn't have much time time to think of anything," she said.
The trains were badly damaged, but amazingly both train drivers were unhurt.
One passenger had to be stretchered off one of the trains. Five people were taken to hospital and later discharged.
An almost identical accident happened in 1955 near Takapu Road, Tawa, but with less fortunate results; details are in our book Danger Ahead: New Zealand railway accidents in the modern era.
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